


The School Day Blues

by TuppingLiberty



Series: Organa's Organics [22]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, First Day of School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 10:37:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6281293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TuppingLiberty/pseuds/TuppingLiberty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amelia has trouble fitting in at kindergarten, and Poe is just having trouble, which Finn can't figure out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The School Day Blues

Finn yawned as he walked into the bathroom, smiling in greeting at his husband who was staring contemplatively at his razor. “Aw, thinking about shaving?” Finn asked, gathering his own shaving supplies as he made a noise of disappointment.  Finn couldn’t help finding Poe’s experimental beard extremely attractive.

Poe squinted at himself in the mirror, angling his head from side to side and rubbing his jaw. “I just don’t like how gray it is. I’m going to look like Amelia’s grandpa among all the other parents when we take Amelia to her first day of kindergarten this morning,” he grumbled.

Finn finished a long swipe of his razor down his cheek, then turned to Poe. “Babe, you’re 37, that’s a perfectly normal age to have a kid in kindergarten.  Think about being in my shoes - if Meghan was my birth child that means I would have been a father at 13. I barely feel qualified.”

“Mmm.” Poe still held the razor in his hand, hesitant.

Finn finished shaving, wiping down his face. “Am I going to have to go through my celebrity fuck list again?” Poe rolled his eyes. “George Clooney. Joe Manganiello. Denzel Washington. Anderson Cooper.” With each name, he took a step closer to Poe, until he was behind him, locking eyes with his husband in the mirror. “I have a type, babe, and it definitely includes gray hair.” Poe cracked a hesitant smile back at him. “So if you want to shave because it’s uncomfortable or hot or itchy, Poe, do it. But if you’re feeling insecure about your age, please know that it’s only a turn on for your husband.”

“Daddies!” Amelia’s voice called before Poe could respond, and she ran into their bathroom.  “I ate breakfast but will you come help me pick out my outfit for real school?”

“I’ll come, sweet pea,” Finn replied, vaguely worried that he hadn’t finished the conversation with Poe, but he saw Poe set the razor down as he walked away with Amelia. “I swear you’ve grown an inch in the last month, Amelia,” Finn murmured when they got to her bedroom.

“Ooooo, let’s check, Daddy!”  Amelia stood against her height chart. “What am I as tall as?” The chart, which compared her height to animals, had been Amelia’s favorite birthday present.

“Look at that,” Finn said, letting Amelia’s enthusiasm cheer him after the somewhat worrying conversation with Poe. He held his finger on the mark so Amelia could turn around and look. “40 inches!  You’re as tall as a bald eagle! And I was right, you did grow an inch this summer. Daddy’s big girl!”

“Big enough to go to real school!” Amelia could barely contain her excitement for “real school” as she called it.  Finn, on the other hand, was apprehensive.  He was happy that Amelia didn’t fear the unknown, but there would be twice as many kids in her class as had been in day care, not to mention all of the big kids, and what if the teacher or nurse didn’t monitor Amelia for hypoglycemia symptoms well enough?  He forced himself to take a meditative breath before his anxiety could cycle out of control; it seemed he had lots of worries piling up this morning.

“Ready, Daddy?” Amelia asked, and Finn realized that while he’d been frowning into space, Amelia had gotten herself all dressed.

He summoned up enthusiasm.  “Let’s go!” They made their way downstairs, where Meghan was still eating breakfast with the leisure of a teen on their last day of summer break.

“Meghan, are you going with us?” Amelia asked, pulling herself up on to the dining bench by her sister and giving her puppy dog eyes.

Meghan smirked. “I guess if you want me to, squirt.”

“I want you to,” Amelia said sincerely, and Finn thought that maybe she _was_ harboring some anxiety about the day.

“Then I guess I should go get dressed, huh?” Meghan stood, taking her cereal bowl to the kitchen.

Amelia followed her, like she always did these days. “Oh, can I come help you?

The scene warmed Finn’s heart, but he cleared his throat. “Just don’t take too long, ladies. I still want to take pictures of Amelia before we go.”

Poe came into the kitchen, beard still intact, but remained silent, and Finn could feel in the air that they weren’t in sync.  It wasn’t like this had never happened, but it kicked up the anxiety in Finn again. He started putting together his lunch, trying to figure out what to say. “I, uh, have my physical tomorrow. Want me to make an appointment for you while I’m there?”

Poe rolled his eyes, and Finn tried not to be hurt by his reaction, tried to understand Poe’s frustration, because they _had_ gone over all of this before. Poe's answer was automatic: “The people in my family all live to a ripe old age," but his frustration snaked out into anger when he added, "unless they’re taken out by fucking drunk drivers, of course.”

Finn winced. “Right, sorry.”

Poe sighed. “You don’t need to be. I’m just nervous about our baby girl going off to kindergarten.”

Finn pressed his lips together, his intuition tell him that it wasn’t the full story, but crossed to Poe anyway, bringing his hands up to Poe’s face and stroking the beard he found so attractive.

“I just keep remembering the first time we met her, and she would barely talk to us without prompting.” Poe leaned his forehead on Finn’s, breathing in his scent as if to calm himself. “And how nervous she gets around kids she doesn’t know.”

“I know, baby, I know,” Finn said, stroking through Poe’s curls now, soothing. “I guess we have to remember that we’ve taught her how to deal with it the best we can, and that she’ll be right back to us at the end of the day so we can help her deal with anything else.”

“I thought you said we were in a hurry,” Meghan quipped from the kitchen door, Amelia standing by her side. Finn reluctantly raised his head, knowing that things still weren’t completely settled with Poe, and turned to look at her, noting that she’d dressed in the same colors as Amelia’s outfit. He was warmed again by the sisterhood Amelia and Meghan had already built between them in the last 8 months.

“Right you are,” he replied easily, grabbing a paper from the counter. “Let’s go out in the front, Amelia, and get your picture in front of the trees.”  They made their way outside, and Finn handed off the paper to Amelia.  She held up the sign, which read “First Day of Kindergarten,” and grinned widely, the gap in her teeth from losing her first baby tooth recently looking especially adorable. “Cheese!”

Later, when they had arrived at the school and Amelia was holding Finn and Poe’s hands (having told Meghan that if she had a third hand, she would hold her hand with it too), she hesitated before walking too close to the school, which was milling with students and parents. Finn and Poe exchanged a worried look, and Poe crouched in front of Amelia. “Everything okay, nugget?”

“It’s just that, I don’t know anyone, Daddy.” Amelia was chewing her lip.

“Well, you’ll know Colin,” Poe pointed out.

Finn crouched, too. “It’s going to be just like your first day at Miss Hannah’s, sweet pea.  You’re not going to know a lot of people, but you’ll get to know them, and it will be just as fun.  But if you’re feeling scared, what can you do?”

“Ask the teacher to take a break,” Amelia responded from rote.

“Remember, Amelia, you can always play alone if you want,” Meghan said from above them.

Amelia narrowed her eyes at the school building and gave a determined little nod. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Inside, they introduced themselves to the kindergarten teacher, Miss O’Brien, who showed Amelia where her table and cubby were.  Miss O’Brien fit Finn’s perfect image of a kindergarten teacher, which did some to alleviate Finn’s worries.  Young, round, and non-threatening, with a permanent smile of understanding on her cheery face. He alleviated other worries by slipping off to the office to give them Amelia’s testing kit and emergency insulin and snacks, grilling the nurse on their use.  When he made his way back, Amelia was leading Meghan around the room so they could look at all the play areas while Poe stood back among the cluster of parents, all of whom looked unwilling to leave their children behind. Finn joined them, feeling comforted that he and Poe weren’t the only hesitant parents in the room.

Miss O’Brien clapped her hands, settling the class in, and slowly, the parents all trickled out, Meghan, Poe and Finn among them. When they returned in the afternoon to pick Amelia up, Finn’s anxiety was in high gear, partially because he still felt distance between himself and Poe and he couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

They waited in the hallway with the clump of other parents of the kindergarten class, the same anxious vibe from the morning obvious among the nervous chatter. Miss O’Brien opened the door, smiling widely as her students came bursting out, running to find their parents or older siblings. Finn didn’t realize he was holding his breath until there she was, looking tired but all in one piece, grabbing his waist in a tight hug, then Poe’s, then Meghan’s. Poe picked Amelia up, grunting a bit, and Finn couldn’t blame him for wanting to pretend she was still their little girl.  “How was your day, nugget?” he asked as they all started to walk out the building.

“Long. I want to go to my room,” Amelia said, not elaborating more. Finn didn’t want to press. It would take Amelia more than one day of school to get acclimated. She’d be fine, soon. And so would Poe. _Right?_

The next day, Finn and Poe greeted Meghan at the bottom of the stairs, Finn holding up a sign that said “First Day of 9th Grade.”

Meghan rolled her eyes. “Dad, you can’t be serious.” Her mouth tipped up a little at the sides.

Finn laughed. “I’m not, unless you want to take the picture.  We just wanted you to know that we love you just as much as we love Amelia.”

Meghan clasped Finn’s hand, then Poe’s, and squeezed. “As if I could forget.”

\--------------------------

Finn couldn’t tell if he was the only one who sensed the tension in the household over the next few weeks.  It _seemed_ like he was the only one who noticed that Poe was being ultra-sensitive to any mention of age, and Amelia was being more like the Amelia they’d first met, and Meghan was always distracted by her schoolwork or messaging Rigo on her tablet. And, he thought ashamedly, that Poe had barely touched him in the last week.

Finn came back downstairs one night after reading Amelia to sleep, grabbing a legal journal from his briefcase to read.  Normally, he cherished the time after Amelia went to sleep and before Meghan headed for bed, enjoyed the time he shared with Poe and Meghan, even if they were all doing their own thing in companionable silence.  It was peaceful, soul-settling.  Except for the last few weeks, when, to Finn, the conversation seemed stilted, the silence crushing until he wanted to scream at Poe to just tell him what was wrong.  He’d learned that it was always better to let Poe say what was bothering him on his own time, whereas Poe knew that Finn needed to be prodded to open up.  But they were long past being anxious over Amelia’s first day of kindergarten, and he still didn’t feel in sync with his husband. Tonight, however, Meghan seemed to have something on her mind.  She had her sketchbook out but wasn’t drawing anything, instead tapping her pencil against the pad nervously. Finn looked up from the legal journal he was pretending to read and exchanged an arched brow with Poe. Maybe someone else had finally noticed something was wrong. “Everything okay, Megs?” He asked.

She blew out a breath. “Rigo asked me to the Homecoming dance at his school.”

“Did you say yes?” Poe asked, setting down the farm paperwork he’d been sorting through.

Meghan shrugged. “I haven’t replied yet, I’m not sure how to. And Elisa’s busy with Luis and I obviously can’t talk to Mary about her own nephew…”

Finn grinned a little. “You know, Meghan, Poe and I do have experience with dating men, too.”

Meghan’s cheeks pinkened. “Obviously. Gahhhhd, this is so embarrassing.” She huffed out another breath and then cleared her face, obviously determining to go on no matter what. “Okay, the thing is, what if he wants to be more than friends?  I mean, he knows I’m...he knows who I am, but for the most part we never talk about it.  He accepts me as a girl, which is awesome, but what if I do something to remind him that I’m not?” Finn wanted to interrupt at that, tell her that she was a girl, but she waved her hand. “Biologically, I mean.  What if I, like, get...excited… if he kisses me or if we dance close?” Meghan’s face was flaming red now, and she was looking down, tapping her pencil again.

Poe looked at her intently.  “Okay, first of all, do you want to be more than friends?”

Meghan picked at her nail. “I don’t know.  I mean, what if he’s just asking me because I’m the only girl he can talk to?  He’s so shy. Rigo’s really nice, and we have fun together. He’s not...aggressive.”

“Just remember, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.  I agree, Rigo is very nice, but don’t feel obligated to go to the dance just because he’s nice,” Poe said.

“But-” Meghan started, then cut herself off.

“But, if you do think you like him, and you do go with him, I would guess that there’s a good reason he worked up the courage to ask you. I would think that it’s because he’s accepted _all_ of who you are, not just what you show,” Finn put in.

“He goes to one of the big Salem schools. What if someone finds out about me and they make fun of us?”

Poe smiled. “You’re as good at playing the what-if game as I am.”

“And believe me, he’s _really_ good at imagining all the possible things that could go wrong,” Finn added.

Poe looked at Finn, eyes inscrutable. “And Finn’s really good at reminding me that if we spend too much time on the what-ifs, we forget to actually be in the present. And life’s pretty damn awesome in the present.” He broke his gaze away from Finn, leaving Finn more confused than ever. “Okay, so when are you planning on telling Rigo yes or no?”

“Tomorrow night at the soccer game.”

“And when’s the dance?”

“A week from Friday.”

“So, if you say yes, you have a week to brainstorm all of the what-ifs you could possibly think of, and when you do, you bring them to us, and we’ll help you make a strategy,” Poe reasoned.

“For instance,” Finn picked up, “I’ll repeat that I don’t think you need to worry about reminding him ‘who you really are,’” and Finn held up a finger to tick it off. “I think the question about you getting excited if you enjoy him kissing you is something you should chat with your therapist about in the next few days.” He held up another finger. “And if anyone at this big high school makes fun of you guys, I know a place in the New Mexican desert where not even the buzzards will find them.” He grinned a little savagely at the last part, and Poe and Meghan laughed in surprise.

“You sound like Rey,” Poe murmured.

“The thing is, Dad, _how_ would you get them to New Mexico in the first place?” Meghan asked when she finished laughing.

“Don’t doubt me, I will find a way.”

Meghan packed up her drawing supplies. “I have a lot to think about, I think I’m going to head to bed. Love you guys.”

Finn and Poe echoed her, then lapsed into silence. Finn felt as if the physical distance between them on the couch was growing larger, like a big yawning pit he’d never bridge. Still, he tried. “Well, the silver lining is that Meghan gets to teach us how to get through these things so Amelia won’t be so hard, right?”

Poe laughed politely, but offered nothing else.

He went for another attempt. “My blood tests from my annual came back, no red flags.”

“Good.”

Finn felt like tearing out his hair.  Or Poe’s.  The thought gave him an idea, though, and he scooted closer to Poe, running his hands along his arm and thigh. “Hey,” he said in his best seductive voice.

Poe set his paperwork aside again, but then got up. “Sorry, babe, I’m tired.” He walked away, and Finn really did try to pull his own hair.

\--------------------------------

“Mr. Smith, Mr. Dameron, it’s good to see you again,” Miss O’Brien gestured for them to sit down. The kindergarten room was decorated with paper leaves and pumpkins, reminding Finn that they needed to get to work on Amelia’s Halloween costume. “Let me know if I need to slow down at any point. I know Amelia has an older sister so I’m figuring you guys aren’t new to the parent-teacher conference process.”

Poe cleared his throat. “Actually, we adopted Meghan this summer, so this is our first time. Please be gentle.” At another time, Finn might have smiled at Poe’s charm, but at the moment, it just pissed him off. _He has time to charm the teacher and no time to tell me what the fuck is wrong,_ Finn thought.

Miss O’Brien laughed, saying, “Don’t worry, it’s kindergarten, it’s not painful. I’m going to start by telling you about Amelia’s benchmark progress.” She pulled out a paper, guiding them through it with her pen. “In reading, Amelia consistently exceeds benchmark standards, especially in phonics and comprehension.  You must read a lot at home.”

Finn tried to suppress his bad mood and smiled. “We do. Amelia loves to read or be read to.”

“Excellent, I’d advise you to keep doing it.  Have her read to you whenever you can, but reading to her is also beneficial.  It helps grow her imagination. In math, Amelia hits at or just below benchmark.” At Finn and Poe’s worried looks, she rushed to assure them, “I know that she’ll improve by the end of the year. Nothing to worry about. She does okay with addition, but maybe work on subtraction with her at home.” They continued to work their way through the benchmarks, until they got to a certain section and Miss O’Brien paused, seeming to try and figure out how to say what she was about to say to them. “Regarding social skills, Amelia has some… eccentricities, we’ll say.”

“Yes?” Poe prompted, worry in his voice, when she failed to go on.

“She’s very shy, very quiet in class. Very rarely volunteers answers, even though I can see that she has them. Which-” Miss O’Brien held up a hand as Finn opened his mouth to defend his baby girl, “Yes, you did tell me about before the school year started, so I fully expected. I noticed at the beginning of the year, during play time she played with Colin Garson quite often, but when he began to want to play with a larger group of kids, she started playing by herself.” Finn had noticed a lessening in the frequency Amelia mentioned Colin at home, around the same time Amelia had gotten increasingly quieter and more timid, even with them. “This kind of thing does happen as friends move from preschool to kindergarten. I’m worried that she’s isolating herself rather than making new friends. If it wasn’t for recess, I think she could make more friends.”

“What’s happening at recess?” Finn asked.

“Amelia is very… competitive at recess. It’s very interesting, really, how she can be so quiet and reserved in the classroom and then go out to play tetherball or four square and intimidate all of the other children away. It’s obvious that she has physical skill which can be intimidating, and I wouldn’t ask her to try and make herself less talented so that other kids can keep up, competition is healthy after all, but I actually caught her _growling_ at a student last week.” Finn gave Poe a look, and Poe had the grace to blush, thinking of all the times Amelia had watched him play soccer. “I’ve talked to her about this, of course, but I bring it up with you because I think that maybe she needs a competitive outlet.  Have you considered team sports? Something where you could channel that competitive nature of Amelia’s so that it doesn’t spill over onto the playground?  I’ve seen situations like this in the past and that solution has worked well.”

Poe nodded. “I’m part of a soccer league, and they start as young as 4. I guess we just didn’t think about it because…” He turned to Finn for help.

“She’s so small for her age, and her daycare never mentioned any of this type of behavior,” Finn finished, worrying his lip.

“As much as we have time for play and naps, kindergarten is so much more structured than preschool.  This behavior is probably part of her adjustment to that transition.” Miss O’Brien smiled kindly at them. “I can tell you’re both worried, and honestly, I don’t think you need to be.  Amelia is such a sweet little girl, and a pleasure to have in class.  With a competitive outlet, I think she’ll start feeling more comfortable around her peers.” She looked into their worried faces. “Seriously, guys, it’s not the end of the world.”

Finn and Poe smiled hesitantly back at her, shook her hand again, and walked out into the crisp afternoon air, everything wet from a recent rain.  It was one of those bipolar fall days in Oregon, first rainy and then sunny and then back again before you knew what was happening. They got quickly into Poe’s pickup before it could decide to rain again, departing in silence and beginning the drive home.  Finn could see that Poe’s knuckles were white with pressure on the steering wheel, and suddenly he’d had enough.

Finn didn’t care that Poe worked things out best on his own time.  His own time had taken too fucking long. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Poe?”

Poe’s eyes widened, but he kept looking ahead in silence, until he pulled to the side of the country road, leaving them in relative privacy unless another car came by. Poe’s voice sounded ravaged when he spoke. “What’s wrong with me? Oh, just that apparently I’ve fucked up our daughter, that I’m a bad influence on one of the people I love the most.”

“You haven’t fucked up Amelia.” Poe looked like he was going to protest and Finn interrupted. “Fuck that, Poe.   _Fuck_ that.  I’m not even going to talk about that anymore because seriously.  What the fuck is wrong with you?  What’s been wrong with you for the last month and a half?  Why haven’t you talked to me? Why haven’t you touched me?” Finn choked on a sob.

Poe released the steering wheel, leaning over and resting his elbows on it instead, cradling his head in his hands as he was prone to do when he was upset. Outside, the weather turned, and rain began to pound the pickup.

Finn folded his arms around himself, seeking comfort. “Are you okay?  Are you sick?  Are you having second thoughts about the adoptions?  Is the farm about to go under? Is Leia sick?  Snap?  Do you...do you need a break from this, from us, from me? What is it?” He reached up to swipe at his tears, angry at himself for breaking down. Suddenly, he couldn’t stay in the cab anymore couldn't stand the silence, didn’t care that it was pouring, had to get out. He slammed the door behind him and began walking away, not bothering to take his jacket.  He got about twenty feet before he heard the other door slam.

“Finn, wait.”

He stopped, turned, let Poe approach him.

“I can’t do this without you.”

“Can’t do what, Poe?” Finn shivered as he shirt soaked through.

“Come here,” Poe said, opening his jacket and inviting Finn into the relative warmth.  Finn felt pathetic for the elation he felt at Poe’s first invitation to touch him in more than a week, but wrapped his arms around his husband anyway. Poe wrapped the coat around the two of them, in a gesture more romantic than practical, since now both of them were getting soaked. “I can’t do anything without you.” Poe rested his forehead on Finn’s and closed his eyes.

“Tell me what’s wrong, Poe.” Worry was eating Finn alive.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been such an asshole. I’m so sorry I could ever make you think that I was done with you, with us.”

“ _Tell me._ ”  

“ _I don’t know!_ I don’t know. Mid-life crisis?”

Finn scoffed. “You’re too young to be having a mid-life crisis. You’re only 37-”

“My parents were 37 when they died!” Poe yelled. “I could die tomorrow, and leave you alone with the girls.”

“And I could get diagnosed with colon cancer and leave you alone with the girls.  Except I get my annual physical, so I get to eliminate it from my worries for a bit. What happened to ‘living in the present is awesome?’”

Poe looked defeated. “I just, I’m not sure if I can really do that right now.”

“Well, you can’t keep living your life like you think you’re going to die tomorrow, because you’re miserable and you’re making me miserable, and we already have a miserable kindergartener we need to help, so we need to adult the fuck up.” Poe got a guilty look on his face. “And no, I didn’t bring Amelia up because you fucked her up.  It’s not your fault. You heard Miss O’Brien. This is just a bump in the road for Amelia.  Someday, when she’s playing NCAA sports, we’ll all relate this story to ESPN and laugh.” Finn could see Poe’s smile and felt a small sense of victory.

“I didn’t realize you had such big dreams for our little girl,” Poe said, his voice sounding lighter for the first time in the conversation.

“Yeah, well that’s before she becomes a world renowned young adult author multi-millionaire, and her book series gets turned into a string of very successful movies, and that’s how we finally meet Denzel. On the red carpet. In a suit.”

This time, Poe laughed. As if agreeing with him, the weather cleared again, the sun making the wet pavement begin to steam. “Of course your fantasy for our daughter includes you meeting cute men.”

“Hey, I said us. Think of the menage a trois possibilities there.” He rubbed his husband’s back. “Poe, I know I can’t just tell you ‘don’t worry about it,’ just like you can’t tell me that. What do you think would help?  Therapy?”

Poe was silent for a minute. “Maybe,” he admitted. “I don’t seem to be getting past this on my own, do I?”

“That’s the thing. You don’t have to get past it on your own, baby.”

“I can’t do this without you,” Poe repeated.

“I’m right here, always.”

And then Poe’s mouth was crushing down on his, and it felt so good, so glorious, that Finn imagined it was maybe better than their first kiss. He burrowed his fingers through Poe’s rain-wet curls, moaning. Poe released his mouth, ignoring the sound of disappointment from Finn, and began dragging him back to the pickup. “Did I really tell you I was too tired last night?  What the fuck was I thinking?”

“I don’t know, but I propose we stop thinking for a bit,” and Finn slammed Poe against the pickup, capturing his mouth again. In the back of his mind, Finn realized that he finally felt centered again, finally felt like the world was running in sync.

\---------------------------------------------

At the soccer game the next night, Finn and Amelia signed up for the kids’ league, then sat down to watch Poe play and have a chat about competing versus playing at recess. “See Daddy playing now, he’s being competitive because this is his league. But remember when he played with you and Snap and Elisa this summer out in the backyard? Did he push you or or steal the ball from you?”

Amelia giggled at the thought. “No.”

“So, he plays differently depending on who he’s playing with, right?”

“Yeah. So, I should play nicer during recess? Miss O’Brien said something like that.”

Finn smiled at her. “Yeah, we’d like to see you do that.”

Amelia nodded. “So, can I go play soccer, _nicer,_ now?”

“Nicely,” Finn automatically corrected.

“Nicer-ly,” Amelia attempted to repeat.

Finn laughed. “Yeah, go on, sweet pea.” She ran off.  Finn looked around for Meghan and spied her in one of the corners with Rigo. Finn tried to continue to watch them out of the corner of his eye, curious as to how Rigo would take what she’d chosen, but not wanting to seem so overprotective. He saw Meghan reach out and clasp Rigo’s hand, and Rigo nodded, looking a little sad, a little relieved. She’d told Finn and Poe earlier that she’d decided to agree to go to the dance with Rigo just as friends. _“I want to feel what you guys do. Rigo makes me feel safe, but I don’t think I could kiss him, like, ever.”_   Finn had refrained from telling her that what he felt for Poe was one of those loves that seemed far and few between.  Let her keep a few romantic ideals.

“Did she do it, do you think?” Poe asked, looking directly at Meghan and Rigo as he wiped his head with a towel.

Finn dragged him down to the bleachers. “Stop staring! Give them space.  No need to be el oso off the field as well as on.”

“Hey, you’re the protective papa bear that threatened death by New Mexican desert, babe.”

Finn folded his arms, schooled his face into a frown. “I cannot confirm that I ever threatened any such thing, and it would be my word over yours in a court of law.” He broke at the last bit, frown turning into a smile as Poe took his hand.

**Author's Note:**

> It's Spring Break, wheeee!
> 
> Thank you for reading. Let me know if you'd like to see something else in this universe! I'm not done with it (I'm not sure I could ever close the book on this AU, and if you have ideas you'd like to see, I'd love to make them happen) but you might see something entirely new pop up from me over the break.
> 
> I'm @animalasaysrauer on tumblr.
> 
> Comments and kudos are always welcome. :D


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